6 edible oils that do you good!

by Sanjeev Kapoor

Cooking oils come loaded with fat, but without them our food would be bland and flavourless so avoiding it completely is a rare possibility. Know more about 6 such oils which help you balance flavour and taste with health when you use them in your kitchen!

Olive Oil – There are plenty of reasons for you to stock up your kitchen cabinets with olive oil. Extra-virgin and virgin olive oils are processed by cold pressing olives to extract the oil. Extra virgin oils are of higher quality as the olives that are used to make them are processed within 24 hours of picking – the longer the gap between the picking and processing of the olives, the more is their free fatty acid content and lower the grade! Olive oil can be used for cooking like stir frying but its best use is in salad dressings and sauces because of its amazing texture and mild flavour. A little drizzle of good quality olive oil over pastas, pizzas and the likes adds to the dish in several dimensions.

Canola Oil – Low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated and omega 3 fatty acids, canola oil is one of the healthiest available options for cooking oils. Also known as rapeseed oil you can use it for a variety of processes in the kitchens. The light texture, high smoking point and almost neutral flavour of the oil allows it to be used for sautéing, baking, roasting, marinating and for salad dressings! The health benefit of this oil makes it completely worth the price.

Rice Bran Oil – Oil extracted from the outer bran layer of rice, this ancient oil seems to have been recently rediscovered by oil manufacturing companies. Promoted as a heart healthy oil low in polysaturated fatty acids and high in good mono saturated fatty acids, it helps keep cholesterol in check and your skin glowing. With a smoking point of 254 degree celcius, rice bran oil is perfect for all high temperature cooking techniques like pan frying or deep frying. In fact is suitable for almost all uses in the kitchen.

Mustard Oil – Our very own sarson ka tel, is used reclusively in the west because of its strong pungent taste and flavour. Loaded with essential vitamins and cholesterol reducing properties, mustard oil also acts as an appetizer and boosts hunger. A massage with mustard oil is good for hair and skin – it helps rid blemishes and spots, acts as a natural sunscreen and in winters it helps produce warmth in the body. The high smoking point of mustard oil makes it ideal for deep frying, but the over powering pungency acts as a negative. Heating it beyond its smoking point helps gets rid of some of the smell and taste – making it a great ingredient for tempering, marinating and pan frying!

Truffle Oil – This is more of a seasoning and flavouring than a cooking medium. Nothing but the best quality olive oil infused with the earthy aromatic flavours of truffles. Truffle oil is extremely expensive, so use it with utmost care and store in a cool dark place and it will last upto 4 -5 months. With truffle oil you have an option of using black or white truffle oil and is a great finishing oil to add novelty to any recipe!

Avocado Oil – Dull green in colour and with a distinctive nutty taste and a faint smell of avcocados, this oil is pressed from the fruit itself. Very similar to olive oil in nature and uses, this oil is not been commercially exploited very well yet. You can use avocado oil for salad dressings, light sautéing and to stir fry veggies and meats.

There are a number of more oils which you can use for several processes in the kitchen. For recipes using these, browse through SanjeevKapoor.com

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Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is the most celebrated face of Indian cuisine. He is Chef extraordinaire, runs a successful TV Channel FoodFood, hosted Khana Khazana cookery show on television for more than 17 years, author of 150+ best selling cookbooks, restaurateur and winner of several culinary awards. He is living his dream of making Indian cuisine the number one in the world and empowering women through power of cooking to become self sufficient.
His recipe portal www.sanjeevkapoor.com is a complete cookery manual with a compendium of more than 10,000 tried & tested recipes, videos, articles, tips & trivia and a wealth of information on the art and craft of cooking in both English and Hindi.